Seaborn [Mass Market Paperback]

Chris Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2008

"From the first page of Seaborn, you are immersed. Chris Howard navigates a wild ride through a brilliantly edgy and richly atmospheric alter-world. Here is a fresh, formidable spin on fantasy, and Howard is a talent to watch out for. Seaborn will leave you spellbound." --Adele Griffin, author of where I want to be

"Dark and atmospheric, Seaborn is an imaginative new entry in the world of paranormal fiction." --Liz Maverick, author of Wired, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2007

"...a fresh and entertaining read and I fully expect we will be hearing more from Chris Howard in the future." --SciFiGuy

"Fascinating read..." --Romantic Times 4 star review

Description: Corina Lairsey has just clawed her way free from one controlling relationship when she finds herself in another-only this guy, Aleximor, has really gotten under her skin. Literally. A 400-year-old sorcerer who gathers the drowned dead off the ocean's floor for the King of the Seaborn, he's inside her head and is wearing her body like a wetsuit. Corina desperately schemes to regain control of her self, fighting against time as Aleximor trades pieces of her life away in exchange for power over the path between the worlds of the living and the dead . . . Kassandra is the King of the Seaborn's granddaughter. She comes from the sea, but has spent her whole life in exile on the surface, struggling to control frightening powers she barely understands. She declares war on her murderous grandfather and manipulates her family, friends, oceanic royalty, and the US Navy to aid her- but Aleximor intends to use Kass to carry out his revenge against the entire Seaborn royal line. And she's also fallen in love-one more struggle for an already troubled soul.

Author's Note: Seaborn is a contemporary fantasy about the loss of freedom. There are two heroines. One, Corina Lairsey has just lost all physical control, and her story is about how she fights, convinces, bargains with the evil inside in order to get her self back. The other is Kassandra, who is from the sea, but has grown up in Nebraska in exile. She has the opposite problem Corina has. Kassandra's one of the most powerful things from the sea, but she's the product of others' manipulations, following a path to the throne she's not sure she wants to take, struggling to be certain that any motive in her head is really her own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As epic fantasy Seaborn is imaginative and flush with mythological detail. The ocean dwelling Seaborn culture is fascinating....a fresh and entertaining read..."
--SciFiGuy

"This is a must-read, must-have and worshipped. This mythology junkie is more than satisfied and begs people to buy more than one copy as soon as possible. If I am correct, after several generations a first issue of this will be quite valuable."
--Temple Library Reviews


Seaborn is no regular fantasy about mermaids. It is an epic, created with a linguist's, a sociologist's, and a poet's touch....Chris Howard has created a rich complicated world....We are obviously in the hands of a great writer..."
--Blogcritics

Seaborn is a mix of The Little Mermaid story tossed with a limb or two of zombies and entranced with a crimson droplet of 'I see dead people'. It is a refreshing step away from the cliché vampire or werewolf book; after all who really writes about things that go bump in the sea?
--Angela Longstreet, BookFetish: 4 1/2 stars

About the Author

Chris Howard writes science fiction, fantasy novels and short stories. Seaborn (Juno Books) was his first novel, and it's the middle book in "The Seaborn Trilogy", which begins with Saltwater Witch, and ends with Sea Throne. His collection of fantasy and SF stories, Always Becoming (Lykeion) was published early in 2011. His short stories have appeared in Fantasy Magazine, The Harrow, Another Realm and elsewhere. His short story "Hammers and Snails" was a Heinlein Centennial Short Fiction Contest winner.

Chris is also an illustrator, working in watercolors, ink, charcoals, and digital formats, with a bunch of commissions and illustrations, including a 9x12 foot "Steampunk Map of New York" for a cafe in Brooklyn and ink work in issue 10 of Shimmer Magazine. He is working on a graphic novel of Saltwater Witch (SaltwaterWitch.com)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Juno Books (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809572818
• ISBN-13: 978-0809572816
• Product Dimensions: 4 x 0.8 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,315,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chris Howard is a creative guy with a pen and a paint brush, author of Seaborn (Juno Books), Saltwater Witch, Dryad, Nanowhere, and half a shelf-full of other books. His short stories have appeared in a bunch of zines, latest is "Lost Dogs and Fireplace Archeology" in Fantasy Magazine. In 2007 his story "Hammers and Snails" was a Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Short Fiction Contest winner. He writes and illustrates the comic, Saltwater Witch. His ink work and digital illos have appeared in Shimmer, BuzzyMag, various RPGs, and on the pages of other books, blogs, and places. Last year he painted a 9 x 12 foot Steampunk Map of New York for a cafe in Brooklyn. Find out everything
at http://www.SaltwaterWitch.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing debut novel! January 24, 2009

By S. Duke

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Seaborn has taught me a valuable lesson: never underestimate Juno Books. For some reason I had assumed that Juno Books was a publisher of romance novels with a genre twist, but the reality is that Juno Books is not that much different from any other publisher of fantasy, except that they publish novels with strong female leads. And Seaborn certainly has a cast of strong female leads.

Seaborn follows Kassandra, the granddaughter of the current King of the Seaborn and the Wreath-wearer, a person of extraordinary power. King Tharsaleos is a murderer and Kassandra wants revenge not only for the House of Rexenor, but for her family as well. As she gears up for war, she has to learn to control her newfound power. Then there is Corina, a California native who loves to scuba dive, but unwittingly releases Aleximor, last of an ancient line of seaborn sorcerers with the power to control the dead who was imprisoned by the Seaborn royalty. The problem, however, is that Corina has released Aleximor within her, and he's taken over, imprisoning Corina within her own mind. And Aleximor is also on a path to revenge. When his path crosses with Kassandra's, will they work together and will they become enemies?

Chris Howard is someone I will be paying close attention to from this day forward. As a debut novel Seaborn succeeds where many others in the same class have not. It puts together a fascinating new world (within our own), drawing from Greek mythology and developing that into its own unique fantasy creation. Interesting too is that Howard has brought together two separate views of this fantasy world as a junction between the world as we know it and the world as Kassandra knows it. Corina is our outside connection, pulling us into the complexities and strangeness of theSeaborn as she is pulled into it. We are able to share our learning experience with her as her imprisonment draws her deeper into the Seaborn mythos.

Not all of Howard's novel is centered on worldbuilding, though. Seaborn is an action-packed fantasy thriller with a touch of the macabre. My expectation of the slightly flowery romantic fantasy (the literary romance, not the genre) was shattered by Howard's unrestrained presentation of the darker aspects of his world. Kassandra is not a perfect being with untold power; she's flawed and struggles against factors that might drive most of us insane. Aleximor , likewise, is a cunning, twisted individual whose passions for the macabre offer to the reader a gruesome (though not overboard) visual of death and reanimation. Corina, who is perhaps the most sympathetic character of the novel, is the odd-girl-out, being the only one who is "normal" by our standards. Her development throughout the novel keeps this fantasy world connected to ours (this feat is also maintained through Kassandra, who does interact with ussurfacers).

If it isn't obvious at this point, I enjoyed Seaborn a great deal. The novel isn't perfect, as most debuts never are. Some of the names can be a pain in the butt to pronounce. I assume they are based on Greek mythology of some sort and unfortunately my Greek mythology is wholly insignificant to have caught all the references. Also, the ending did feel a bit rushed to me, although perhaps that has more to do with the fact that I enjoy a lot of description for scenes involving battles and the like. Regardless, the novel kept me entertained from start to finish and even snatched me up in the first few pages, which is something a lot of novels have failed to do for me in recent years. Seaborn never felt like a chore and often times surprised me in its presentation--Kassandra, especially.

I look forward to reading more of Howard's work in the future. If Seaborn is what Howard can churn out as a debut, I suspect this may be the beginning of a long and fruitful writing career, with even greater novels finding their way into our libraries, personal and otherwise.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting extremely graphic fantasy August 7, 2008

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Not just born of the sea, Kassandra comes from Seaborn royalty as her grandfather rules the species. However, in spite of her regal sea blood, Kassandra has spent much of her living amidst the surfacer (land people) for she is unique as the powerful wreathbearer who possesses the spirits of her ancestors guiding her to free the Seaborn from her sadistic dictatorial grandfather whose weapon of choice to hold onto the throne is mass murder.

Four centuries of incarceration by the Seaborn has devastated the mental state of the previously unbalanced evil sorcerer Aleximor. He has finally escaped and taken control of the body of California surfer college student Corina Lairsey with plans to raise a new deadly force to destroy the surfacers and the seaborn. Kassandra with her family at her side must prevent Aleximor from succeeding, but Corina may be collateral damage; while also at the same time open up a second front war: a coup d'etat to liberate her people.

This is an exciting extremely graphic fantasy, which needs a warning label not to eat while reading SEABORN; Chris Howard is explicit with vivid violent descriptions to torture and mutilation. The story line is entertaining but driven by the heroine who has known since birth she has a quest to bear and now has no time left to learn her skills since her mission has turned out to be on two fronts. Readers who appreciate the realism brought to an epic "military" fantasy by broken bodies, blood and gore will want to read SEABORN, a well written opening saga.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book! August 4, 2008

By jebmos

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Seaborn is a riveting adventure story -- complete with underwater kingdoms, royal rivalries, familial betrayal, and epic battles -- but it's much more, too. It's a rich portrayal of two young women who, in different ways, find themselves in situations not of their choosing and have to use their smarts and strength to persevere. Corina's battle is literally over the ownership of her body - who's ultimately going to inhabit it? For her part, Kassandra's inherited a powerful legacy that, while it brings many gifts, is also fraught with responsibility and pain. The complexity of these women's characters and the beauty of the prose make this book a complete pleasure to read.